“Freedom and luxury” redefined

Evidence is mounting of a wholesale change in the way Americans commute. Motorists have driven roughly 30 billion fewer miles in the past six months compared with the same period a year ago, according to federal government estimates.

Meanwhile, commuters took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation last year, the most in 50 years — when the population was about 60 percent the current size — according to the American Public Transportation Association. Ridership is up 3.3 percent in the first three months of 2008 and 30 percent since 1995.

Those trends suggest growing numbers of Americans are reaching their tipping points in how much they’ll spend for the freedom and luxury of personal automobile transportation.

Cars do give you freedom, but that freedom takes you only as far as the bumper of the car in front of you. If it takes 45 minutes to creep your way to the edge of the 520 bridge, how free are you?

To me, freedom is actually going somewhere.

And luxury… If you’re driving a luxury automobile, at least you have something more pleasant to get stuck in traffic in.

Also, the push back against sprawl has been going on long enough now that we’re starting to see changes in communities that mean shorter commutes and using transit are viable options more than they were in the past. High gas prices, bad credit and high consumer debit will insure that these changes accelerate.

Things look pretty bad right now, but more and more I worry less and less about the future.

In the respect that more people are getting out of their cars and are taking mass transit, higher gas prices are a good thing. I hope it goes even higher, because I think that will be the only thing that will start in motion a serious movement to lessen our dependence on oil.

“Bottom line: We can get people to select transit when it is convenient, comfortable and a good choice, but if we build all low-density neighborhoods, few people will have a reasonable transit option,” Deakin said.”

Well, just so long as you KC people will eventually be paying a toll on the 520 bridge, the rest of us in WA don’t care how “free” you feel or don’t feel!

If a toll is good enough for us folks in Pierce County to pay for the Narrows Bridge, then a toll is definitely the right thing for the elitists of KC and the 520 bridge!!

The Gig Harbor area was placed outside of ST’s taxation area because it’s residents would be paying most of the tolls on the new bridge. Gig Harbor’s one of the wealthiest communities in the state. There are plenty of poor folks in KC that will be paying for ST AND paying a toll every time they need to go over one on the Lake Washington bridges.

A year ago, when gas was a little over $3, there was no evidence of any change in Americans’ driving habits. At $3 or $3.50, gas just wasn’t expensive enough to get people to buy fuel-thrifty cars, plan and combine trips, and ride mass transit. But $4 gas is.

Oil has always been cyclical. High prices lead to gas-saving innovations and habits that reduce demand and knock down the price. Then we revert to our old oil-wasting ways and the price goes up again — and goes up higher each time. That’s what happened after the oil shocks of the 70s, and it’s probably what will happen again.

To avoid this, I propose that the federal government enact a contingency tax that would put a floor under the cost of gasoline. This would be a new tax on top of existing state and federal gas taxes that go for roads. We don’t want to tinker with the revenue source for roads. The Roger Rabbit Minimum Gas Price Tax would go into effect any time the pump price, including existing taxes, fell below $4. It would keep gas prices at a minimum of $4, because that’s what it takes to keep Americans from wasting oil, a finite resource. For example, if the pump price (including taxes) fell to $3.25, the RRGPT would be 75 cents a gallon. Under this plan, the price of gas would never fall below $4. The money from this tax would go to build more mass transit, and couldn’t be used for anything else.

And that would probably keep gas prices at $4 for a long, long time.

Oh, the wingnuts will whine and kick and scream. “It’s just another liberal tax!” they’ll cry. Well, guess what, if we don’t keep gas at $4, average Americans will go right back to their gas guzzlers and wasteful ways. And then, when the next gas crunch comes, gas will cost them $6, or $8, or $10 — and they’ll piss and moan and wish gas was only $4 again.

And I’ll say, “I told you so.” Gas taxes that raise gas prices make gas cheaper in the long run! Why are humans so blind to this? Why does it take a fucking rabbit to see the obvious?

Oh, the wingnuts will whine and kick and scream. “It’s just another liberal tax!” they’ll cry. Well, guess what, if we don’t keep gas at $4, average Americans will go right back to their gas guzzlers and wasteful ways. And then, when the next gas crunch comes, gas will cost them $6, or $8, or $10 — and they’ll piss and moan and wish gas was only $4 again.

Actually, there are a few righties out there that want that same tax.

And John Warner (R) (good man that John Warner) wants to lower the speed limit back down.

Warner wants to know what speeds provide the most fuel efficiency, an estimate of how much fuel might be saved and the likelihood of a lower speed limit showing up in terms of lower prices at the gasoline pump.

“High gas prices, bad credit and high consumer debit will insure that these changes accelerate.”

I guess Bush was successful at something after all.

Troll @ 4

“In the respect that more people are getting out of their cars and are taking mass transit, higher gas prices are a good thing.”

And now if only Obama will get asked why he believes this and wants to limit the freedom of Americans even more by promoting high gas prices.

Are you all sure that it’s McCain who is the second coming of Bush? What with Obama’s ever so flexible stance on Iraq deployments and all, wouldn’t it be ironic if you all were the ones who voted for the third Bush term?

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